The Yreka Gold Miners, who will play in the Southern Oregon fall ball group opens the season today. The new team faces Phoenix, Ore. at 5:30 p.m. at Hibbard Field. On Friday, the Gold Miners play a team from College of the Siskiyous at Hibbard at 4:30 p.m.

The squad, which consists of players from Yreka High, plays through the third week of October and is run through the Siskiyou Family YMCA.

Head coach Jason Freitas, who is also the Miners varsity coach, discusses the Gold Miners and the upcoming season

Jason, how did the Yreka Gold Miners come about?

I have done some fall baseball activities in the past, but have never really had an opportunity to play games before. Fall baseball can't be associated with YHS, so we created a team through the YMCA and called ourselves the Gold Miners.

How many players are on the team and who is on your coaching staff? Also, is the team YHS players or are there others on the squad as well?

We have 14 player on the team made up of 10th-to-12th graders at YHS. All but one of them has played in the program in the past. Our coaching staff is myself and Rick Swenson. Bob Parker and John Howard will also help when they have time.

Can you tell me a bit about the league you are playing in such as how many years it has it been around and a bit about the teams you will be facing?

I wouldn't say that there is an actual league, but we are going to be playing with the Southern Oregon High Schools. Basically, whoever is able to field a team meets and we create a scheduled based on our available dates. We will typically have one game during the week and a doubleheader on one of the weekend days. We don't play every weekend because of conflicts, but we will try and get in 12-15 games through the third week in October. We are also lucky to be able to play the COS baseball team. I talked to (COS coach Billy Hefflinger) about it and he was all for it. It allows his team to get reps and innings on the mound without the expense of traveling, and it allows my guys to face really strong competition and to see what the next level is all about. It also give our players a chance to meet Coach Hefflinger in case they have the skills to compete at the college level.

Why was it important for you to start this team?

We feel it is important to keep our athletes busy and in shape. We have quite a few of our baseball players who don't play a fall sport so it made it real easy to put the team together. We are not requiring the guys to play, so the fact that they are out there shows us they want to learn and get better. We want to give our athletes as much opportunity to improve without it being overly demanding. We will play for seven weeks or so and then take a break from organized baseball activity until the first of the year.

Page 2 of 3 - How will this help the Miners baseball program come spring?

The biggest thing that should come from fall ball is improvment on how we react to game situations and improving our overall baseball skills. Our players need to experience as much game time and situational baseball as possible. Practice is great, but it is hard to simulate every game situation that a player could be in. The more games you play the more likely you will be put into unfamiliar and pressure situations. We have a tendency to make the situation bigger than it is and let our nerves get to us. We need our players to relax in those situations and understand that there is only so much they can control and to focus on the task at hand. Work need to work on preparing mentally and their fundamentals. Once they pitch the ball or swing the bat they need to realize they can't control the outcome. I'm really hoping we can improve our focus and stay mentally strong. The mental side of sports has proven to be one of our weaknesses.

How have practices been so far?

Great. We have a great group of guys and they are taking advantage of the time we are out there. With the limited time we practice we realize we will not be 100% ready for our first week of games, but that is okay. All of our guys know our system, so for a lot of the stuff we can quickly review it and the guys are ups to speed. Arm strength and hitters getting their timing back will take the longest to get going.

I know the squad is run through the YMCA. Can you tell me a bit about that partnership?

Obviously the YMCA is great. They are always looking for ways to help our community and to help our local coaches anyway they can. Since we can't be associated with the high school I asked Brady Svilich if we could run it through the YMCA. They didn't hesitate and got things going for us right away.

What are the challenges of running a fall baseball team? One I assume you have is not having all your baseball players due to fall sports like FB?

Actually, the biggest challenge is organizing everything. There are so many things going on in the fall that it's hard to find time to do them all. Many of our players have other obligations, but it is nice to see they are putting baseball towards the top. I don't expect my players to live and die baseball all the time, but I do expect them to at least live and die baseball for the two hours we are on the field. I love the fact that our players are active in our school sports. We want our guys to compete as much as possible, so if they are not doing a YHS sport they should be playing fall baseball.

Page 3 of 3 - What are your goals, expectations for the season?

Our goals are pretty simple. We want get guys as many reps as possible and help them improve their skills. It will be nice to be able to work on things without worrying about winning. Of course if they are keeping score we will try to win, but it's not that important.

Anything else you would like to add?

Thanks again to the YMCA and everyone who supports our program as well as all the YHS athletic programs.